"Fiji is an island nation, like New Zealand, and therefore protecting our maritime resources in extremely important," he said.
Fiji military forces and fisheries personnel would work closely with the New Zealand crew during the deployment.
Kubuabola said Zealand was one of Fiji's close partners in the region. He was pleased to work with it "not only to conduct maritime patrols but also to train together and to strengthen our people-to-people links."
New Zealand has recently helped train Fiji in pre-deployment training for international peacekeeping operations - although Foreign Minister Murray McCully said New Zealand has been avoiding UN missions because they are too dangerous.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Other countries taking part in the third Pacific defence summit are Australia, Chile, France, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Fiji.
The first was in Tonga in 2013 and the second in Papua New Guinea in 2017.
The agenda included humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, peacekeeping developments, women in the armed forces, future exercises, security challenges, each member's engagement in the pacific and initiatives to enhance cooperation on regional security.
Ahead of the summit, Brownlee said responding to natural crises was a feature of ongoing co-operation.
Ministers would look at any lessons from the response to the Kaikoura earthquake in New Zealand in November last year and cyclone Winston in Fiji in February 2016 which killed at least 44 people and displaced an estimated 45 per cent of the population.
PREVIOUS DEPLOYMENT
The Fiji deployment was one of New Zealand's largest peace-time deployments ever and comprised about 150 combat engineers, tradesmen, plant operators, specialists in environmental health and logistics, Army medics, and a 55-member detachment from Air Force's 3 Squadron.
HMNZS Canterbury and offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington carried almost 500 tonnes of aid supplies and construction materials.
Former Fiji military commander Frank Bainimarama seized power in 2006 and was eventually elected Prime Minister in 2014.
As well as Brownlee and Kubuabola, others attending the meeting are:
- Australian Minister of Defence Senator Marise Payne
- Chilean Vice Minister of Defence Marcos Robledo
- Ministry of Defence of the French Republic Director-General of International Relations and Strategy Philippe Errera
- Papua New Guinea Chief of Defence Forces Brigadier General Gilbert Toropo
- Tongan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Siaosi Sovaleni